After three weeks, countless workouts and more two-a-days than the Philadelphia Union players would care to recall, it’s time to finally face an opponent not wearing the same club crest.

The Union’s next step on the road to the 2013 season takes place Saturday at the Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic when they take on USL Pro side Orlando City.

“The games allow you a really good evaluation tool, and while we’re happy with the competition in training, it’s always a little different when you have an opponent presenting different challenges to you,” manager John Hackworth said in his weekly conference call Wednesday. “That’s something the coaching staff and I think the players, too, are looking forward to.”

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The Union play the third game of four today at the tournament that also features MLS clubs Toronto FC, the Columbus Crew, the Montreal Impact, D.C. United and Sporting Kansas City as well as USL Pro’s Tampa Bay Rowdies.

They have meetings scheduled with Columbus Wednesday and Montreal next Saturday before the following weekend’s championship day against an opponent to be determined.

“What we want to do is slowly build up with all the players here so that they can take what we’re doing in training and build that in a game, and we want to build them up so that at the end of the camp, we feel that they’re ready to play 90 minutes,” Hackworth said. “We have a conditioning plan that we’re working on in that regard, and in a lot of ways, we want to make sure that everything that we want to go into that March 2 game with is accounted for and covered and taught and repeated numerous times in this preseason.”

The first challenge is daunting in the form of Orlando City. The top club in USL Pro’s regular season last year, they’ve been a frequent adversary for the Union’s preseason preparations. The Union lost to them in 2011 after a Carlos Valdes red card forced them to play a man down for most of the match. Last season, the teams drew 1-1.

As far as the specifics the opener, there’s plenty Hackworth is looking for. But to briefly summarize...

“In general, we’re looking to try to instill the things that we have been working on on both sides of the ball,” Hackworth said, “mainly in attack and the way that we want to play when we have it, our transition when we lose it and how we are organized in the pressure we put on our opponent defensively.”